Schacknow - TODAY'S PRIMER, December 22, 2011

Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk

The “battle for breakeven” goes into its final six trading days of the year – with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both down for 2011, but with margins that may be small enough to make up before year’s end.

The S&P 500 is down 1.1 percent for the year, the Nasdaq down 2.8 percent. The Dow is well into the black, with a 4.6 percent annual gain.

Several economic reports could help drive trading today, starting with two reports at 8:30am ET.

Initial jobless claims are expected to rise to 378,000 for the week ending December 17, up from 366,000 the prior week.

And the second revision of third quarter GDP is seen coming in with no change, matching the prior estimate of 2.0 percent annual growth.

At 9:55am ET, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index should rise to 68.1 for December from the prior reading of 67.7, according to consensus forecasts.

At 10am ET, the Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators is expected to rise 0.3 percent for November following October’s 0.9 percent increase.

And finally, at 10:30am ET, the EIA will issue its weekly look at natural gas inventories.

The earnings calendar is extremely light today, with greeting card maker American Greetings (AM) among the only reports scheduled this morning.

We’ll watch shares of Yahoo (YHOO), as reports say the company is considering a deal to sell its holdings in Alibaba Group and its Japanese affiliate back to their majority owners for about $17 billion.

Micron Technology (MU) also makes our watch list, falling 1 percent in after-hours trading after posting a wider than expected loss for its fiscal first quarter.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) saw a nearly 4 percent loss after-hours, after third quarter sales came in weaker than expected and the retailer gave a conservative profit outlook for the fourth quarter.

Vivus (VVUS) shares are also under pressure, after new data on the diet drug Qnexa showed a higher rate of birth defects in women who took the drug during pregnancy.
Furniture maker Herman Miller (MLHR) fell after hours on signs of slowing sales momentum.

The war of words over the payroll tax cut extension continue in Washington today, with President Obama set to speak on that topic at 12:15pm ET.